BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage, cardio-metabolic company developing novel therapies designed to enhance cellular energetics, today announced the appointments of Arash Yavari, M.B.B.S., DPhil., M.R.C.P., as chief scientific officer, Hugo Fry as chief commercial officer and Komal Joshi as chief financial officer.
“We are at a pivotal juncture of our company, and I am pleased to welcome Arash, Hugo and Komal to the team as Imbria continues to gather momentum,” said Anne Prener, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Imbria Pharmaceuticals. “Over the past year, we have made tremendous progress in advancing ninerafaxstat (formerly IMB-101) into the next stage of clinical development. Augmenting our leadership with the combination of scientific, operational, commercial and financial expertise will be invaluable as we advance ninerafaxstat in multiple indications to bring new therapeutic options to substantially improve the lives of patients with serious cardio-metabolic diseases.”
Dr. Arash Yavari brings over 20 years of broad clinical, scientific and early drug development experience as a physician scientist to Imbria. In parallel, Arash serves as a senior drug development clinician at Weatherden, holds a research appointment in Experimental Therapeutics and is a Principal Investigator at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. His research interests have focused on cardiac and systemic metabolism, inherited cardiomyopathies, heart failure and cardiac imaging. Arash is on the General Medical Council (GMC) Specialist Register for Cardiology in the U.K., holds an M.B.B.S. from the University of London and a Ph.D. in cardiovascular medicine from the University of Oxford.
Hugo Fry brings over 25 years of global commercial, strategic and senior management experience to Imbria. Most recently, Hugo was managing director of Sanofi U.K., chief marketing officer for Sanofi Pasteur MSD, leading the commercial effort for the European vaccine joint venture. Hugo has held global strategic positions and commercial operational roles, across global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, leading vertically integrated teams from drug discovery through clinical development, regulatory affairs, market access, industrial affairs, medical affairs and commercialization. He started his career at Servier. Hugo holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Salford and studied Finance at London Business School and Leadership at Duke University.
Komal Joshi brings over 20 years of finance leadership and capital markets experience to Imbria. Most recently, she was the chief financial officer for LIB Therapeutics, a private late-stage biopharmaceutical company. Komal has also held various positions of increasing strategic, financial and operational responsibility at private and public life science companies. Prior to industry, she spent 15 years in financial services, first in equity research before transitioning to healthcare investment banking. Komal holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS from Boston College, Wallace E. Carroll School of Management.
About Imbria Pharmaceuticals
Imbria is a privately held, clinical stage, cardio-metabolic company focused on improving energy production in the mitochondria and balancing the energy supply and demand of the heart through the development of novel therapies designed to substantially improve the lives of patients with life-altering diseases. Our lead product, ninerafaxstat (formerly IMB-101), is a novel partial fatty acid oxidation inhibitor (pFOXi) in development for a range of cardiac diseases characterized by a mismatch between energy supply and demand. Imbria is currently investigating ninerafaxstat in three Phase 2 proof of concept, indication enabling trials. IMPROVE-DiCE is a target engagement Phase 2 study in patients with diabetes at high risk of heart failure and patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Imbria also has two randomized, controlled Phase 2 clinical trials currently enrolling patients. IMPROVE-HCM in the orphan indication, non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and IMPROVE-ISCHEMIA in stable angina. The pipeline also includes IMB-203, designed to address energy deficiency in patients with rare inborn errors of mitochondrial metabolism. For additional information, please visit www.imbria.com.
